Many vehicles are equipped with airbags to protect persons occupying various seats in the vehicle. If a seat is unoccupied or is occupied by a person of a particular size, it may not be necessary to activate the airbag associated with that seat. Furthermore, if a seat is occupied by a person of a particular size, the manner in which a safety device is employed may be varied accordingly. One indicator of the size of a seat occupant is his or her weight. In the case of an infant, the combined weight of the infant and an infant safety seat is useful as an indicator of occupant size.
There is a need in the field of inflatable vehicle occupant restraints, such as airbags, to determine if the occupant of the front passenger seat of a motor vehicle equipped with a front passenger side airbag is an infant in an infant seat or a small child weighing less than a preselected amount Thus, the airbag deployment controller disclosed herein may determine the presence or absence of an object or person on a seat cushion, and the weight of the person or object on a seat cushion and based upon those determinations may allow or disallow the deployment of an airbag.